Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904–1991) was a Polish-born American who wrote in the Yiddish language, including a long association with the New York City Yiddish-language newspaper the Jewish Daily Forward. His novel, Satan in Goray (1955), deals with the 17th-century pograms in which Jews in Poland were massacred by cossacks. His other well-known novels include The Family Moskat (1950), The Manor (1967), and The Estate (1969). He won the National Book Award for A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw (1969), one of his several books for children. Yentl, the 1983 movie starring Barbara Streisand, was based on his story "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy."

The Great Writers series offers an informative and revealing look into the lives and literary output of 20th-century writers, both American and international, whose groundbreaking works made a major impact on both literature and society around the globe. Each DVD presents a biography of the writer's life as well as examining the social and political events that influenced their work. Archival documents, interviews, and insightful commentary help place each writer's literary contributions into historical perspective.